President's Message by Darrin G. Borders - President
This is a particularly busy time of the year for your union. Over the past three months, your Executive board, Recreation Committee and Stewards Council have been very active working for the members and planning out the rest of the year. Below are a few updates on what is currently going on!
The second round for Burbank's City Council elections is almost completed. The BCEA is endorsing GARY BRIC and ANJA REINKE for the two vacant seats in this election. If you live in Burbank I am encouraging you to vote and turn in your ballot by this Tuesday, April 10th. In the primary phase of this election, the BCEA supported GARY and ANJA and the result was a 1-2 finish. In the general election, it is especially important that our support does not wane or falter. I will avoid talking about all of the 'what-if' scenarios and instead challenge each of our members to engage your Burbank friends and relatives to vote. GARY BRIC and ANJA REINKE recognize and understand how important the employees are to this city. Each of these candidates has demonstrated a willingness to engage the unions for guidance and input on the current issues and a commitment for finding solutions. The BCEA supports GARY BRIC and ANJA REINKE; let's show them that we can be the difference in this election!!
The annual picnic is three weeks away! Please be sure to look for the enclosed flyer for all of the details. The picnic will be at Six Flags Magic Mountain on Friday, April 27, 2007 from 7:00pm to 1:00am. The park is closed to the general public. The private picnic area is open from 7:00pm to 9:00pm with the meal service from 7:00pm to 8:30pm. The cost remains the same: BCEA Members and Associate Members are $10 per person; immediate family is $15 per person; all other BCEA invited guests are $30 per person. The parking and children under three are free! This event is well attended and tickets are limited. Please come to the BCEA office to purchase your tickets and I hope to see many of you on the 27th!
The BCEA negotiation team has begun the salary survey process with the City. The time freame currently is as follows:
The process is on track and the initial results are positive. The MOU allows for the BCEA to distribute 4% in salary adjustments. In 2006, the adjustments brought nearly every position to within 2% of the market value target. The initial look at the 10 survey cities shows multiple increases. The challenge for your union will be to address some of the inequities that currently exist for some job classifications and to examine the performance of the current benchmarks and make changes accordingly. Several members have shown as interest to help the team and I would like to thank them and invite those of you out there to contact me directly if you would like to help us with this process.
The last month has brought an end to one of our most popular BCEA member benefits. For ten years, the BCEA has had a dedicated cell phone representative coming to the office to assist our members. Many of you know that this person is Rick Sall. It saddens me to announce this, but Rick is no longer working for Verizon. The short version of what occurred is that Verizon has restructured their services to include a division dedicated to government and city employees and Rick was contracted with the Indirect Agent Division of Venizon. The internal politics at Verizon forced Rick into resigning from the company due to 90% of his client base being a government account. Rick was being monitored and restricted from working on our accounts so he has decided to look elsewhere for government plans from other cell phone carriers. To this point, he is still available by phone to give advice on how to accomplish your cell phone needs, but he is unable to directly contact Verizon. Having a Verizon phone, I know how much this is affecting each of you. The BCEA has made very effort to work this out but the management of Verizon Government Division was unwilling to resolve this to our satisfaction. If there are any new developments with Rick or anything else, they will be announced on this website and disseminated through the Stewards council. Please check this website regularly to stay informed!
I am proud to announced that I joined forces with the President of BMA at the City Council meeting this week. The purpose of our collaboration was to address an ongoing issue with Councilman Gordon. Over the past few months, Dr. Gordon has made public comments that have been unfavorable towards city employees. The most recent involved challenging the integrity of the staff working in the City Clerk's office during the primary election. During the first open communication period, Ellie Knapp and I stood on behalf of all city employees to publicly read a letter addressed to Dr. Gordon that pointed out that some of this comments are not appreciated and that he should treat all of our members with respect. The following morning I sent the following e-mail message to each of the council members.
"During the initial open public comment period last night, I accompanied the President of BMA, Ellie Knapp, as she read a letter addressed to Dr. Gordon. As time expired there was one more point that we were not able to make that I would like to share with you.On behalf of all the unions, I would like to invite and encourage each council member to reach out to the union leadership in the city with your concerns, and to seek out our perspective and assistance. There are many issues that have an impact on city employees and our role is to help."
The BCEA has started to reach out to your coworkers that do not get to experience the full benefits of membership. To help make this a successful endeavor the BCEA is offering two incentives. The first incentive is for prior BCEA members who have left our ranks - the $25 reinstatement fee will be waived if the employee rejoins the BCEA before May 18, 2007. The second incentive is for any person who brings in three people that join the BCEA between now and May 28, 2007 - a $10 gift card to Barnes & Noble. The strength of our organization is based on participation and I would encourage each of you to contact the BCEA office for materials that can be shared with your coworkers.
There is an exciting new opportunity for BCEA Members and Associate members. The BCEA has partnered with a local State Farm office that wants to provide our members with various services. Please look for details in our "Member Only Benefits" and look for an opportunity to get a free gas card!
In Solidarity,
Darrin G. Borders
President, Burbank City Employees Association